Nursing Home Ratings & Reviews

In 2010 there were an estimated 1.7m seniors living in Nursing Homes in the US and an additional 1.1m living in Assisted Living Communities, according to the National Center for Assisted Living. SeniorLiving.Net utilizes several approaches to help families obtain the most complete set of Nursing Home Ratings and Reviews.

The Federal Government completes regular surveys for nursing homes (also called skilled nursing communities). This information is published on www.medicare.gov. They have developed a 5-Star Rating system to provide consistency across nursing care communities. For additional information about the 5-Star Rating system, click here. Most Nursing Communities are evaluated every 12-15 months. (It may be more frequent if families have filed formal complaints against a nursing home). Most communities typically have some deficiencies from time to time but it’s important to be able to assess minor from major or chronic issues. In addition to Federal Nursing Home Ratings and Reviews provided by CMS, states complete their own surveys for Nursing Homes and for Assisted Living communities. The definitions and requirements for assisted living vary by state so it’s important to talk to local resources who are familiar with state surveys. In addition, each state has its own programs to address things like transportation and Medicaid waivers and subsidized housing. Our team uses these resources to guide our recommendations to families. Ultimately, the family will be making the choice for their loved one based on all of the public information available and what is “best” will vary by what type of care is needed, budget, reputation, location and availability.

SeniorLiving.Net works with thousands of families each month and compiles extensive data through interviews and surveys to get an accurate perspective on each Nursing Home, Assisting Living and Dementia Care Community we visit. We call this our Family Feedback ® program. We rate each community on a scale of 1 to 10. We also ask the family to rank critical elements such as care, pricing, cleanliness, friendliness, food quality and other factors that drive the decision making process. An important part of our process is obtaining feedback from families. We share this Feedback with the communities in an effort to help them improve the level of service they offer to families. We also use it to rank our recommendations of communities back to families.